Irish Voices Needed: Help Shape the Digital Future of Our Language: Every voice counts. Every dialect matters. Every recording brings Irish closer to digital equality.
A new initiative is calling on Irish speakers everywhere to contribute their voices to a project that will contribute to the digital future of the language.
Údarás na Gaeltachta has partnered with Mozilla Common Voice to create a public collection of Irish speech data, that will be completely free and open for anyone to use. This initiative aims to help build the foundation for next-generation Irish language technology.
Why Your Voice Matters
Every recording you make helps developers create:
- Irish-enabled smart devices and voice assistants
- Advanced Irish language apps
- Cutting-edge speech-to-text systems
Celebrating Every Voice, Every Dialect
The project needs speakers from across the Irish-speaking world, from teenagers in Belfast to grandparents in the Dingle Peninsula (Corca Dhuibhne). Each recording captures not just words, but the beautiful diversity of Irish dialects, helping AI systems understand and respect our linguistic heritage.
“This is our chance to ensure Irish has a strong digital future alongside major world languages,” says Ruairí Ó Neill, Director of Corporate Services at Údarás na Gaeltachta. “Right now, Common Voice has just 15 hours of Irish content—compared to 159 hours for Welsh and 713 for Basque. Together, we can change that.”
How to Contribute (Just 5 Minutes!)
- Visit commonvoice.mozilla.org/ga-IE
- Create your free account
- Read sentences aloud and record your voice
- Help validate other people’s recordings
Open Access for Everyone
All recordings will be released under Creative Commons Zero license, meaning:
- Researchers, developers, and organisations get free access
- No restrictions on how the data can be used
- No fees, ever
Leading Irish language technology experts are backing the initiative:
Dr. Mícheál J. Ó Meachair from Dublin City University emphasises how the open license will accelerate research: “This will benefit Irish language technologies across public, research, and private sectors while saving valuable time for future research projects.”
The ABAIR team at Trinity College Dublin, renowned for Irish speech technology, sees this as complementary to their ongoing work in developing accessible Irish language tools for everyone, including people with disabilities.
Mozilla’s Director of Common Voice E.M. Lewis-Jong said “We’re delighted to be working with Údarás na Gaeltachta to encourage Irish speakers to contribute more hours of Irish speech to Common Voice. This collaboration will not only benefit Irish language technologies but also support valuable research on regional dialects through our metadata tagging system for dialects and accents.”
Start contributing today at commonvoice.mozilla.org/ga-IE
Every voice counts. Every dialect matters. Every recording brings Irish closer to digital equality.